Asphyxiations
by Feigning My Innocence
Summary: StarClan never told the cats of the forest to unite. Chaos reigns, both in the world of the living and the world of the dead, and it is near impossible for any cat to gain control of either.


Asphyxiate- suffocate: to deprive a person or animal of oxygen, or be deprived of oxygen, usually leading to unconsciousness or death. **

Short chapter is fail. I promise, the next chapter will be longer.

Also, the ending is a bit—well, more than a bit—rushed. So yeah…

Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated~

** Definition from Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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It was the nothingness that most surprised Lily.

Because all around her was nothing. Nothing at all. Not blackness, no, her surroundings definitely weren't black, but nothingness. For some reason, Lily had always foolishly paired nothing and the color black together, but now she was seeing that the two were completely different.

The last thing she could recall of, well, somethingness was a flash of color, endless green and grey hues intertwining round and round. Even in her confused state, she knew that spinning was not normal in the world of somethingness.

She closed her eyes, -- Or at least, that's what she thought she was doing. Lily couldn't quite sense her body, so she'd never know for sure-- and tried to think.

There it was. Right there, in the back of her mind. A dim image replayed, flickering in and out of focus with a seemingly random pattern. Now, she wished she'd paid more attention to what was around her in the memory. Out of panic, it seemed that the memory had erased bits of itself, and all she was left with was a story with half of the pages missing.

But she wanted to remember so badly. She wanted to remember what had knocked her unconscious and sent her to this dreamlike state. Her whole body ached with wanting, and she thought it strange that her being should want something as unimportant as a short clip of memory so much.

Most likely, she'd just passed out. She'd probably hit her head on something. Such would explain the spinning colors of her memory, and her current dreamlike state.

But Lily had never been satisfied with simple assumptions. She needed proof. Concrete evidence. Something to convince her skeptical mind of the truth.

Without a moment's hesitation, she began pulling out each individual bit of the blurry memory and focusing on it until the colors brightened and the noises could be clearly heard.

It was a slow process, but it seemed as if there was nothing better to do in this empty place. And Lily was determined to find out exactly what had happened to her. Why she needed to know, the young cat wasn't quite sure. Maybe it was because she thought that seeing the memory would help her to know where she was right now. Maybe it was sheer curiosity.

But no, neither of those seemed a likely solution.

Something more primordial was driving her on. Some instinct hidden deep in her being wanted, no,_ needed_, to see this memory.

And who was she to argue with her very own soul?

After she'd re-focused each bit, she put them all back together again in her mind, and tried, once again, to see the memory. This time, it came in more clearly then any memory ever had.

Lily almost wished that it hadn't.

Instantly, the overwhelming stench of blood washed over her, and she scrunched up her nose, partially because of the revolting smell, and partially because she knew it was impossible to _smell_ memories.

The whole smelling-during-the-memory thing was her first clue that something strange was going on.

But the small she-cat didn't have time to think, because just then, a large grey cat tackled her, digging his claws into the soft flesh on the side of her stomach. She yowled and struggled away, wincing in pain as she felt the cat's strong claws ripping away at her insides. With one desperate pull, she jolted free.

It only took a split second for the panic to hit her.

Her previously calm, inquisitive mind disappeared; so much that she forgot this was nothing but a memory. To her, it was real. It was happening, and it was now. She did the only thing she could think of to do, turned tail and ran for the edge of the clearing as quickly as she could.

She had to get away, had to get away from the fighting, the war cries, the blood, the dead bodies…

She just had to get away.

Her feet pounded against the bloodstained earth, and she could feel herself getting weaker with each passing second. Each step seemed to take years to be completed, but she couldn't stop. That was the one certainty in the mess that was her mind. She couldn't stop.

The edge of the clearing was in plain sight, and she could see it, only a few fox-lengths away.

But it was not meant to be. The wound in her side was too deep, and she fell to the floor, the hues of green from the plant life and grey from the sky intertwining….

And then there was nothingness again.

After the all-too-vivid pain, the nothingness was almost a relief.

What had happened? There's no way that what she'd experienced was a memory. She'd felt that wound, she'd smelt the blood…

She wished she'd never tried to recall the memory. After all, it had brought up a terrible realization.

Lily was dead.

If she hadn't been dead the instant she lost consciousness, then she had certainly died afterwards. The wound in her side was too deep to have allowed her life.

This realization pushed all curiosity of the not-memory out of the way. As far as her priorities went, being dead was definitely more worth worrying about than a strange memory.

It was at that moment that her surroundings changed.

The nothingness started to go away. At first glance, she would have described it as fading, but it wasn't really fading. It was more of dissolving,—yes that was the word—the nothingness was dissolving.

As soon as the nothingness was completely dissolved, she looked down at her paws, and saw that she was soaked. _And, _she noticed, _lying in the same position I was in the memory. The same position I was in when I died._

With a small sigh, she hoisted her tiny body up, and stood on shaky legs. Water dripped from her fur, creating a small puddle below her.

Sure enough, there was a pool directly in front of her, undoubtedly the entrance to the afterlife, judging by her wet fur.

Lily turned her head to the right and saw a rugged landscape, the colors muted by a grey mist that seemed to hover over everything in the area. After a while, the mist cleared, but the colors remained dull and muted. For a second, Lily missed the more vibrant colors of the living world, but she shook the feeling away. After all, it was silly to miss such a small thing as colors. Certainly she'd be able to adapt to the grey tones.

To her left was a nearly identical landscape, and she spun around slowly, examining every bit of the afterlife-world. Abruptly, she stopped, and squinted as something flickered on the edge of her vision. She twisted around a bit, and leaned forward, trying to see what it was that she was looking at. She took a few steps closer, and the shapes became more defined.

_Cats, they're cats,_ she thought, but still, the young she-cat hesitated. The other cats seemed to be gathered in a circle, and their heads were dipped as if whispering, or talking in hushed voices.

Lily took a few more steps, then a few more, until she was right behind one of the cats. She leaned in to see if she could hear what they were saying, but only caught bits and pieces.

"…got to."

"No, no…"

"…is proof!"

"…arguing is…"

"How complicated…"

The tiny cat frowned, frustrated at the lack of input she was getting. She had lifted her paw, and was about to take a step closer, when a loud voice broke through.

"Fools!"

She blinked a couple times and looked in the direction of the noise. A large, dark grey tom stood a bit away, his head held high and an angry expression on his face. In two long strides, he was near the others.

"What are you thinking?!"

The other cats cowered in fear, and even Lily herself cringed a bit, but just a bit. After all, there was no proof that this cat was dangerous, and without proof, she could never be truly afraid, just a bit scared.

"I know what you're doing here!" the tom yowled, and about half of the cats took a step back, "And if you go through with this, it will kill the cats below us in the long run."

"Oh yeah?" one of the cats spoke up, "Well I think you're wrong. Your reasons are flawed, and your mind is clouded by your inability to admit your mistakes."

The dark grey tom closed his eyes tightly, and said, his eyes still shut, "Will whoever it was that said that please come here?"

Silence. Never had Lily heard such silence.

But, after a bit of mumbling, the group pushed a scared-looking cat forwards. The scared cat stumbled a bit, but then stood up tall, trying to appear brave.

Then, in an instant, he was withering on the floor, tiny moans of pain escaping his lips.

Now, Lily was afraid.

How had it happened?

_What_ had happened?

One second, the cat was just fine. A bit obnoxious, sure, but healthy.

Or…as healthy as a dead cat could get.

…Anyways…

Lily stared in awe. This was crazy, insane, demented, and a bunch of other long words that mean something along the lines of "unbelievable."

_Magic,_ was the first thing that came to Lily's mind, but she narrowed her eyes, ashamed at herself for thinking such a silly thing. Magic didn't exist. Sorcery and the like were simply tales created to scare the living cats. Tales as in myths. Myths as in _not real_.

_This is the world of the dead. Different rules apply here. _That explanation seemed to satisfy Lily, and she nodded a bit. But no matter how logically she explained it to herself, an unsettling feeling remained in the pit of her stomach.

The dark grey tom looked down at the withering cat on the floor, and lifted his chin a bit, as if he was better than the cat who had stood up to him. Lily'd seen the gesture a million times when she was alive, and she'd dubbed the cats who used it as snobs, filthy narcissists who acted like they ruled the world. But she couldn't seem to think of this cat as a snob. The word just didn't…fit. When he used it, the gesture seemed to signify confidence and leadership.

And…maybe a little bit of snobbishness.

And this made sense, Lily supposed. After all, most of the living cats that were snobs weren't really as strong as they thought they were. This cat was dangerous-- if what she'd just seen was anything to judge by-- and he knew it.

"Now, I would _appreciate it_ if you would all return to base," The tom sneered, his loud voice breaking through the silence.

The world stood still until one by one, the cats left. Each would take a small, hesitant step, and then gradually speed up until they reached a full sprint. Within a minute, the clearing was completely empty, and all Lily could see of the group was a few shadowy figures in the distance.

Not knowing what else to do, she followed them.


End file.
